Mout`e rang (at the moment of death) Produced and directed by Ajay Raina Year: August, 2022 Length: 81 minutes. Language: Kashmiri (English subtitles) Video. Colour. HD 16:9
SHORT SYNOPSIS:
After the mass exodus of Hindus in 1990, only about 3000 remain in Kashmir.
Following his earlier award-winning film about the exodus in 2001 (Tell them, the tree they had planted has now grown), the filmmaker revisits Kashmir to follow a group of local activists who travel all across the Kashmir valley to document their vanishing—they meticulously archive their cultural and spiritual history, their traditional festivals and an ancient way of life. This film chronicles the process of extinction and the struggle to stay alive.
LONG SYNOPSIS:
In the winter of 1989-90, mass protests and violence against India by a majority, which favoured independence or merger with Pakistan, led to the exodus of almost all of Kashmir’s Hindu population. In 2018 only about 3000 were left. Abandoned by the State and their co-religionists who went away, relegated to the margins in their own land and stuck in an environment of rapid Islamisation of Kashmir, those who stayed back feel trapped between a steep rock and a deep abyss. Their people were massacred, villages burnt and temples vandalised. Their shrines have been abandoned or appropriated. Yet they continue to live on, bravely, celebrating their festivals and performing their sacred rites. Following his earlier film about the exodus (Tell them, the tree they had planted has now grown – 2001), the filmmaker revisits Kashmir to follow a group of local activists who travel all across the Kashmir valley to document their vanishing—they meticulously archive their cultural and spiritual history, their traditional festivals and an ancient way of life. Filmed between 2003 and 2018, this documentary chronicles the process of extinction and the struggle to stay alive.
PRODUCER / DIRECTOR:
Ajay Raina has produced, directed, and edited many fiction shorts, documentary films and TV programmes besides having written innumerable screenplays for feature films and a novel in English. He has won the National Award (Rajat Kamal), the Golden Conch and other prestigious awards like IDPA Silver Trophy and RAPA award for his documentary films, many of which have screened at numerous forums, seminars and at major international and
national film festivals. His Documentary film “Between Border and the fence, on edge of a map” (2011)” is short listed among 12 best documentaries of the year 2011-12 by the well- known Walker Art Magazine. Ajay’s work mainly explores the contemporary context of the conflict in Kashmir and the experience of exile, displacement and diaspora through an exploration of history, memory and Hindu - Muslims relations post partition. He teaches courses in Cinema studies, Film Direction, Documentary and Screenplay writing. He is the founder of Kashmir Oral History project and curator of a traveling festival of films related to Kashmir conflict.
Links to PROMOS
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/730761091
https://vimeo.com/730888392
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/730890190
Ajay Raina 91-8884233567 ajayrainaa@gmail.com